Game Changing 3: Stealing Sarah
by Sar-kaz-m
Summary: Continuing from 'Saving Stephen' and 'Baiting Becker': Summary: Dr. Sarah Page gets more than she bargained for when she joins the ARC team – a new job, new friends, a new view of history, and a pair of men vying for her attention.
1. Chapter 1

Sarah Page listened intently as she trailed the strange group of scientists and military into their huge secret facility.

Professor Cutter issued orders to Connor Temple. "I want you to set up a research program into magnetite; its effect on anomalies, how electricity can be used to 'lock' them."

"Cool," the younger man chirped, hurrying off to some sort of workstation in the large central atrium of the building. The others scattered as well – the military men off to do whatever, the blonde girl to her own workstation, and the tall brunette sticking close to the professor.

From above rang out a stern and exasperated voice. "Please tell me you got that bad-tempered reptile back in its box."

"Yep," Cutter confirmed.

"Excellent." The man who joined them looked every inch the long-suffering executive. From his bespoke suit to his Italian leather shoes, his whole appearance told of two things: Money and Power. Addressing Sarah, he identified himself. "James Lester, Home Office."

"This is a government facility?" she asked, surprised.

"What did you think it was, the circus?" 'Snide' appeared to be his usual style. "You're Sarah Page."

"Doctor Page," she shot back, piqued by his attitude.

He opened a file in his hand. "Yes. PhD in Egyptology...promising academic career, veteran of archaeological digs all over the Middle East. Now you're giving lectures to kiddies at the museum. How did that happen?"

"Just not very good at taking orders," Sarah replied with a challenging lift of a brow.

"You should fit right in then," Lester sighed.

"I've got a file?" She asked, amused by needling him.

"Everyone's got a file," he sneered back. "Dr Page, you can't say anything about what you saw today. Do I need to repeat myself? Or should I have you arrested for your own protection?" He turned away, and Cutter went after him.

"Here, you might need that." Sarah turned to find Stephen Hart offering her a beer.

Sarah took a pull and turned to Connor, the one person she felt she might get a straight answer out of. "Is he always like that?" She asked with a thumb towards Lester.

Connor gave her a lopsided smile. "By his standards, that's being pretty nice." He dropped his pen. "Come on, I'll show you around." He led her through some doors and down a hall. "We're set up for lab work on everything that comes through an anomaly. Not only zoological, but geological, atmospheric, botanicals, et cetera, plus microbiology and some forensics. There's a full medical bay, a barracks, offices, and holding areas."

"Holding areas?" Any other day, Sarah might have found it unusual to get a guided tour of a secret headquarters, but she was too busy being impressed by the set up to wonder why everyone seemed so friendly.

"Yeah. Wanna meet Crush?"

"Who's Crush?" Sarah asked warily. With a grin, Connor led her down another hall, and through a pair of doors with a heavy latch. There, Sarah froze, amazed at the sight before her. "Oh, my god."

The huge creature let out a cow-like low as Connor immediately went to a refrigerated bin by the door to pull out a head of lettuce. "Here, Crush!" he called, and the creature swung around to eat the vegetable tossed gently at its feet. "He's a _scutasaurus_ from the Permian era. He's really a pareiasaur, an anapsid. That's a sort of tortoise."

"This is a giant prehistoric turtle?" Sarah gasped.

"Yeah. Great, isn't he?" Connor asked with a grin. His enthusiasm was infectious, and Sarah couldn't help smiling in return. He led her back out into the halls, carefully latching the door to Crush's enclosure behind them.

"So, this is what you do here, is it? You um...You deal with these anomalies

as and when they occur." Sarah said.

"This is what we do." Connor confirmed cheerfully, leading her into a large room, where Cutter and Hart already seemed to be conferring on the day's events before a huge plexiglass covered in obscure markings.

"I can't believe I saw Ammut. Well, what the Egyptians thought was Ammut. A genuine living legend."

"Legends." Cutter's head came up like a dog hearing a bell. "Yes! If anomalies have been appearing in the past – and they have – if Pristichampsus was sunning itself by the Nile three thousand years ago, that's the stuff of legend!"

"Anything that seems out of place, out of time!" Hart jumped in, easily following the professor's thoughts. "Like… Like, er…"

"Like Chimera," Sarah offered.

"The yeti! The hydra…" Stephen added.

"The Kraken!" Connor suggested.

"I've been looking at this all wrong," Cutter murmured as he stared at the markings on the plexiglass. "I've been thinking two-dimensionally." He turned on Sarah, pointing a finger at her. "How much do you know about mythological beasts?" he demanded.

Startled, Sarah answered, "Well, uh.. my thesis on it is in the British Library."

"She stays!" Cutter announced to Lester, whom Sarah finally noticed was lurking in a corner.

"Do I get a say in this?" Sarah cried, feeling like she'd been swept away by some current she never saw.

"Yes, yes, of course." Cutter was nothing if not condescending. "I would like you to join us here at the Anomaly Research Center. I want you working on the source of all the great myths: where they were first spotted, when, by whom, can you find a _pattern_?" He straightened. "Or you can go back to lecturing schoolkids. Your choice."

Sarah glanced at Connor, leaning casually on a filing cabinet behind Cutter. He gave her a half-smile, half grimace and waved a hand, as if to say the job was both great and horrible. She thought of the terror she'd experienced today, balanced by the awe of watching Connor feed a genuine dinosaur.

Steeling herself, she said "Alright… I'm in."

"Great news, I feel better already," Lester drawled.

"What do we do about the Sun Cage?" Connor asked.

"Well, the anomaly's closed. Might not open for three thousand years - if ever." Lester stated.

"But it's still a risk! It can't be on display any more," Stephen insisted.

"Happily, that's not our decision to make. The Culture Minister tells me the exhibition's moving on." Lester told them, then departed.

"Geez, where is it going next?" Connor asked, looking at Sarah.

"Beijing, I think," she said.

Cutter shook his head in disbelief as Stephen sighed. "More beer," Stephen announced, leaving the room to find more bottles.

"It's not even noon," Sarah pointed out.

"It's noon somewhere," Cutter told her dryly. He followed Stephen.

Conner laughed at her expression. "You'll get used to it. If you're lucky, you won't go into the field. Come on, you should meet Abby properly."

* * *

Sarah found the blond punk-ette to be very nice. There was also obviously something between the girl and Connor – their body language telegraphed 'together' to anyone who bothered to notice. Abby specialized in behavioral sciences, and could guess a creature's mood and likely actions from its posture and other clues. Sarah listened, amused, as Abby and Connor told the tale of how the ARC team came together.

She was also warned about Cutter's ex-wife, and Connor promised to provide some images so she would be able to recognize the crazy woman if she ever showed up.

She caught a few glimpses of Captain Becker, whose wry smile reassured her that he'd only been joking with the military 'forced escort'. Sarah supposed that she deserved it, after starting the teasing with the made-up curse joke. She also intercepted a few friendly smiles from Stephen Hart.

"Doctor Page? Allow me to introduce myself properly – Jenny Lewis." The auburn-haired woman shook Sarah's hand. "Welcome to the team."

"Thank you…. I think." Jenny acknowledged Sarah's reservations with a grin.

"It may seem a little crazy around here, but trust me, there is a method to the madness. Now, if you'll accompany me, there's some employment paperwork you'll need to fill out, and we should discuss what reasons you're going to give the Museum to justify your sudden desire to leave their employ."

Sarah snickered. "I can't just say the dinosaurs scared me away?"

Jenny bent a rueful expression on the Egyptologist. "I'm afraid that's right out."

* * *

By half past three, Sarah realized she'd not slept the night before, having stayed unconscionably late at the museum, then swept into the misadventures of this merry band of lunatics, and the only sustenance she'd taken was three beers and a bag of crisps.

"Jenny? Do I need to stay?" she asked. She explained her situation, and asked when she'd be expected to start at the ARC.

"Goodness, no, you can go. Ostensibly you'll work regular business hours…"

"But you wouldn't bet on it?" Sarah finished.

"What are we betting on?" Stephen Hart joined the conversation with a smile.

Jenny rolled her eyes and poked him in the shoulder with a pen. "Any more pools, Hart, and I'll be setting you up with a councilor for compulsive gambling!"

Hart laughed off her threats, before turning to Sarah. "Heading out, Doctor Page?"

"Yes. I really need some sleep… and some training if I'm going to live on lager and crisps like the rest of you."

"Need a ride? I'd be happy to drive you."

Sarah smiled at the handsome zoologist. "That would be great, thanks."

As they walked through the central atrium, Captain Becker emerged from a side hallway. His eyes quickly flicked from Sarah to Stephen and back again. As they passed him, Stephen leaned towards the military man.

"Catch you tomorrow, _Hilary._"

To Sarah's surprise, the Captain froze, and blood rushed to his face. He gave Stephen one horrified look, before turning towards the Anomaly Detection Device. Sarah glanced over to see Connor watching them, looking pale and frightened.

"TEMPLE!" Becker roared. Connor shot to his feet and bolted for a door, Becker tearing after him. Stephen, Abby, even Jenny and Cutter from their viewpoints on the level above, all started laughing. Sarah started to wonder about this place.

* * *

_to be continued_

_AN: Maybe fanon, maybe not, but I heard a tale that someone wrote the producers of Primeval and asked what Becker's first name was, and were told it was 'Hilary'. Poor guy. OTOH, I dated a guy named Shannon once….._


	2. Chapter 2

She blinked at first, uncertain why consciousness had come to her. It wasn't like she had a pet or anything to wake her. Rolling onto her side, she peered at the clock's LED glow.

Oh god, three o'clock in the morning was so wrong on so many levels.

Sarah rubbed at her eyes. She knew she had to be awake on time – not indecently early – and together for _something _important today….

Right, quitting a cushy but ultimately boring position at the British Museum for something far more interesting: dinosaurs and rips through time.

Of course, being up all the night before, plus being swept into the mad secret government agency, then falling asleep before the evening news even started, perfectly explained why she now stared at her dark ceiling at three in the morning.

It had been a terrifying and yet challenging experience. She hadn't known what to think about the group of armed people who confronted her in the museum so late after closing. Come to think of it, she could legitimately write off her teasing of Connor with the whole phony curse thing as payback for sticking a gun in her face. Still, she'd quickly come to like the younger man, and not just because he was easy to wind up with superstitious nonsense. The way they were able to bounce ideas and information off each other excited and challenged her mind in a way that had been missing in her professional career since her inglorious ejection from Palestine and subsequent position at the museum.

Then there was the stoic and handsome Captain Becker, who had turned out to be not quite so stoic after all. There are cracks in that stern shell, she told herself with a little smile, remembering his complicity in teasing Connor, and his mortification when his given name was revealed. Poor guy – someone should take new parents aside before putting a baby's name on anything official, just to make sure they don't saddle the kid with something like _that._ Probably some sick family tradition; he seemed like the type to come from a long military line.

Rolling over, Sarah let her mind drift over the rest of the group. Professor Nick Cutter seemed interesting, in a sort of married-to-his-work intellectual way. Archeology was crossed over with paleontology – they both dig in the dirt, after all – so they ought to have a few professional commonalities to work with. She did find his condescension a bit grating, but perhaps as they worked together, he might show a little more professional respect. She could admit she didn't make the best first impression anyway, with the thief accusation and the running and screaming.

That Stephen Hart though – he could be trouble. With dark hair and blue eyes, the man was intensely handsome. Too bad he knew it. Sarah was willing to bet the man had a distinct system for wooing women. He seemed the type. On the other hand, he was also reasonably cheerful, showed clear affection for Connor and Abby, had a decent sense of humor, and seemed very competent at his job. She supposed she could get used to the flirty innuendos.

Abby Maitland was the sort of no-nonsense type that Sarah sometimes found off-putting, but she clearly loosened up in Connor's presence, so that counted for a lot. There was a tentative delight between Abby and Connor that told Sarah they haven't been a couple for very long. Connor was obviously utterly smitten with Abby, and it seemed like Abby didn't quite know how to handle that, but she was trying, and for that Sarah gave her a lot of credit. Plus Abby was clearly dedicated to protecting the creatures that wandered through these anomalies, and a conservationist creedo was one Sarah totally supported. Yes, Ammut had terrified her, but she'd have been equally horrified had they been forced to kill the goddess… creature… whatever.

Jenny Lewis could be a real friend in time, if the woman ever set aside her cutthroat professional gloss. She seemed witty and keen, very sharp and steely, and yet there was a quirk of ironic humor in her that Sarah found intriguing.

The shrill of her alarm startled Sarah. Somehow in her musings, she'd managed to fall back asleep. Groggy, Sarah slapped at the demon devise and threw her sheets aside.

Thirty minutes later, she was showered and dressed, staring fiercely at the coffee maker in her tiny kitchen. "Brew, damn you, brew!" she muttered. The shower, though invigorating, had not been enough to fully wake her, and she'd need her wits to get out of the Museum without conceding to two or three weeks notice. No-one wanted to do the school tours – Sarah, as the most recent hire, had been saddled with the duty. Her departure meant others had to take on the responsibility, so no doubt the Curator would beg her to stay while he did some intense back-room negotiations. But Sarah intended to clean out her desk and beat a hasty retreat from the Museum, back to the ARC where she could hopefully settle into a brainstorming session with Cutter and Stephen and hopefully Connor.

Finally, the little light turned green, and Sarah snatched the carafe from its space to pour out liquid consciousness. As she greedily slurped the brew, an addiction she gained on various digs overseas, particularly Turkey, she suddenly heard the sound of her cell phone ringing.

"Hello?" she asked, curious as to who might be calling so early.

"Doctor Page? This is Captain Becker."

"Captain!" Sarah let a hint pleased delight creep into her voice. "What can I do for you so early?"

"Actually, Doctor, I was calling to offer you a ride to the Museum, and then to the ARC, if you like. I can't imagine you'd want to negotiate the Underground with all your papers."

"Oh, my hero. I'd love a ride. How soon can you be here?"

There was a brief hesitation, and then he admitted, "Actually, I'm parked outside your door right now."

Sarah gasped and hurried to her front room. Pushing aside the curtain, she spotted the black SUV with government plates. The figure inside gave her a sheepish wave. "Lovely. Give me five minutes," Sarah told him.

She snapped her phone closed and hurried to finish her coffee and gather her bag.

* * *

Sarah hurried down the front steps of the British Museum, her arms full of a box containing all her personal effects and papers from her desk. "Save me!" she called to Becker, who stood waiting by the black ARC vehicle.

He came to meet her, plucking the box from her grasp. "Save you from what?"

"Irate museum docents! They're going to lynch me for quitting and leaving them to deal with the kiddies." He chuckled quietly, placing her box into the back of the car while she hurried around to jump into the passenger seat. When he got in, she waved a hand. "Quickly Alfred – to the Batcave," she proclaimed with a smirk.

"What?" His expression of confusion was precious.

"Nevermind. Or ask Connor. Let's just go."

* * *

At the ARC, Sarah happily arranged her desk. Jenny had met her as she and Becker arrived, and shown Sarah to an office adjacent to Professor Cutter's. Stephen Hart had an office across the hall, and they'd turned a lab space into their particular brainstorming room.

While Sarah set up her office, Becker was speaking with Connor and Abby. The soldier and the techno-whiz-kid had come to a truce yesterday afternoon over the illicit hacking of Becker's personnel file – Connor swore to keep Becker's given name a secret, in exchange for being allowed to continue breathing. But somehow, that turned into an agreement that Connor update all of Becker's files to simply a first initial, so no-one _else_ could find out, and in exchange Becker began to give Connor more weapons training.

The captain and the two youngest member of the core field team were currently in the armory, going over the various capabilities of the ARC arsenal, when Connor suddenly asked if Becker had enjoyed his errand that morning.

"That reminds me, what does 'Quickly Alfred – to the batcave' mean?" Becker asked, his befuddlement clear in his voice. "She said that to me in the car as we were leaving the Museum."

Connor burst out laughing. "It's a Batman reference! It seems our new teammate is a comic fan."

"Oh no, it's bad enough with you spouting nonsense!" Abby groaned. "Now we'll all be left wondering as the two of you go off on fits of fancy."

"I don't think Dr. Page is really that bad," Becker said. "I think she expected I'd get the reference."

"It's pretty obvious, I'm surprised you didn't get it," Connor pointed out. "But it does tell us something about Sarah."

"Yeah," Abby interjected dryly. "She's just as crazy as the rest of us."

* * *

_TO BE CONTINUED_


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey!" Sarah looked up at Connor as he rolled into her office on a skateboard, waving a cd-rom at her. "All set up?" he asked cheerfully.

"I think so. I'm just trying to get a feel for the network," she told him, indicating the open laptop before her on the desk. Connor pulled an extra chair up next to her, and they spent the next twenty minutes wandering around the ARC's internal network, as he showed her how to access various departments and information.

Eventually Connor was showing her various hacks and by-passes he'd incorporated into the network for emergencies, including how to hook her phone up directly to the ADD. That led to an in-depth description of how the ADD worked. Connor always said 'we' when he described the system capabilities, but eventually he ground to a halt as Sarah bent a sharp eye on him.

"You built it, all of it," she accused.

"No! Yeah, well, sort of. I mean, it was Cutter who noticed the FM band interference. He and Stephen were chasing a Utahraptor through an electronics place in the mall. Once we confirmed and narrowed down the exact frequency, it was pretty easy to set up a nation-wide monitoring system tied to a sat-nav. It's actually better than the old system – we had been plugged into a 'bot program monitoring all emergency services, doing a constant scan for keywords like 'monster' and 'creature'." Connor shrugged. "Once we got called out for a boa constrictor. It wasn't a good system."

"So you built the ADD, and it gives an alert the minute it picks up a signal?"

"Yep. And if we can figure out the effects of magnetite and electricity on anomalies, maybe we can even start controlling them, locking them up so nothing can get through." His enthusiastic grin made Sarah chuckle.

"So, what's on the disc?"

"Oh! Right, here." Connor popped the disc drive on her laptop and quickly pulled up a menu. "First, I'm gonna install this. It's a program that will adapt any anomaly timestamp into a graphic. Cutter was saying we need to track these things three-dimensionally; this will create a 3-d model in the computer for you." He brought up a basic spreadsheet. "Just drop the two connecting eras into here, and…" He entered the word 'modern' in one column and 'permian' in another, and with a single click, a black screen with a glowing orange arch appeared, connecting two golden dots. "I've already programmed in the geographic time periods in relation to base-line linear time."

"Did you write this program?"

"Oh, no. I just bodged it together from a couple of others."

"So you studied computer science then?"

Connor blinked. "No, I was in paleontology. Professor Cutter was my dissertation advisor. Officially, at any rate. He actually tossed my dissertation in the bin right in front of me." Rather than being upset, Connor seemed amused at the memory. "Computers just come easy to me. Evolution is much harder. More of a challenge, yeah?" Connor finished the software installation, then opened a separate window for the other folder on the disc.

A slideshow of images appeared, all displaying the same woman at a variety of ages, with a variety of hairstyles. Sarah frowned. "Who's she?"

"Helen Cutter." Connor's voice gave away his intense dislike for the woman.

"She's used all these disguises?" Sarah couldn't believe it.

"Actually, I ran her image through a forensic facial recognition program I downloaded from Scotland Yard's network. Figured it might be useful if we were prepared."

A new voice joined their conversation. "How exactly did you get your hands on forensic software, Temple?" Captain Becker stood in the doorway of Sarah's office.

Connor grinned up at the military man. "Guess."

Becker shook his head. "No, I don't think I will." He crossed to the desk and offered Sarah a blue plastic card. "Your security credentials, Dr. Page. Please keep that on you at all times. You'll have to present it to gain access to the ARC from now on."

"Thank you, Captain." Sarah gave him a bright smile, pleased to see a bit of color appear high on Becker's cheeks.

"Hey, Becks, I was thinking…" Connor began, until Becker gave him a dirty look. "Right, I was thinking I won't call you 'Becks'. Anyway, what about panic buttons?"

"Panic buttons?"

"Sure, each of us could carry a panic button with an individual signal. Just in case we get separated at an anomaly site and someone got trapped or something."

Becker sighed. "That's a bit extreme, but I can probably arrange some sort of radio headset system, if we can get assigned a secure channel. Let me check it out." He nodded a farewell to Sarah and exited.

Sarah smiled to herself, then caught Connor's grin. "What?"

"Fancy a bit of that, do you?" Connor teased.

"Shut up," Sarah gasped, elbowing him as he laughed.

Connor waved at the computer. "Anyway, get familiar with this face. If there's trouble, there's a good chance Helen is behind it."

"Behind it, causing it, planning it." This time, Stephen stood in the doorway. When they looked up, his smile was ironic. "Connor, Abby's looking for you."

"Right. Later, Sarah." The young paleontologist hopped onto his board and rolled out, ducking Stephen's attempt to muss his hair.

Stephen walked up to Sarah's desk. He had two mugs deftly carried in one hand, and held them up to her. "Tea?"

"Thanks." He handed her a mug and she sipped the fragrant brew. "There's quite a bit of history here, isn't there?"

Stephen glanced at the computer screen, wincing at an image of Helen with blond hair. "Not a good look on her," he muttered. Sarah hit a button to pause the slideshow. With a sigh, Stephen took the now empty extra chair. "I was actually Helen's student originally, back when she also taught at Central Met. When she disappeared, Cutter took over as my advisor. At first we were both just grieving – we thought – but then we became friends. Eventually he hired me on as his lab tech. When she reappeared..." Stephen shook his head. "I think she's gone insane. Dangerously insane. Cutter said she was rambling on about experimenting with evolution, going back in time to change things just to see how the world would be different in the modern era. Before that, she was hunting for anomalies to the future, wanting to see what happens to humanity, to the planet."

"You're kidding – these things can lead to the future?"

Stephen nodded. "We've already encountered one future creature, an evolution of the bat which, trust me, you really do not want to get to know."

Sarah thought a moment, then said, "With all of history to visit, why would she keep bothering everyone here? Surely she could find something more interesting to do?"

Before Stephen could answer, Cutter walked into Sarah's office and the conversation. "Because there are two things that Helen cannot stand: Failure and Rejection." His Scottish accent made his words heavily ironic. "When she came back, I wouldn't run off through time with her. Then she tried to convince Stephen to join her instead." The men exchanged loaded looks, and Sarah realized without being told that Helen had had an affair with Stephen at some point. "When he refused, it became about controlling evolution – and again, she couldn't get either of us to join her, and we managed to ruin all her plans. Rejection and failure. As long as she keeps losing, she'll keep messing with us."

Cutter crossed to the desk to peek at the image of a blonde Helen. "Not a good look," he muttered, unknowingly echoing Stephen's assessment. "At any rate, enough gossip. I need you both in the lab."

Sarah snapped the laptop shut and followed them to the brainstorming lab.

* * *

"Food!" The sharp demand of the petite former zookeeper cut through the lively argument Cutter and Stephen had raging over Sarah's silent head. "I'm taking Sarah, and fetching us all some curry."

"Tikka masala!" Stephen immediately ordered.

"I _know_," Abby sneered, grabbing Sarah by the arm and dragging her away. "I swear, you'd think it was the only food on the bloody planet," she muttered to the Egyptologist.

"He only orders that?"

"I have no idea how he does it, but Stephen lives on chicken tikka masala and naan, fish and chips, and lager. Even Connor would put on weight on that diet, but Stephen never does."

Sarah giggled. "You didn't wait for Cutter's order."

"Cutter wants butter chicken. Connor wants pork vindaloo. Becker's getting fish and chips with some of the other soldiers, and Lester's at a luncheon meeting at the Home Office." Abby grinned. "We all have our little favorites. Connor would live on pizza, which is funny since he actually can cook pretty well."

"Do you cook?" Sarah asked.

Abby sniggered. "I've burned water. Seriously." The blonde woman waved Sarah towards a Mini Cooper. "Here, this is my baby."

"Nice!" Sarah admired the car as they got in.

A half hour later, the women returned loaded with take away cartons. Stephen met them by the door with a wide grin to assist in the delivery of lunch. Soon the five scientists were grouped around a table in the main floor break-room, passing cartons and containers back and forth and laughing together.

Sarah looked at her new colleagues with a satisfied smile. She hadn't been in a group of professionals this good in several years. Digging into her own vindaloo, she made a mental note to leave a little offering in front of the statues of Bes and Ammut on her mantle, thanking them for getting her into this.

* * *

_to be continued._

_AN: Bes is the Egyptian god of luck. He's the little dwarf dude. And of course, it was Ammut's visit that got Sarah into the ARC._


	4. Chapter 4

It was well past the end of normal business hours. Sarah poked at her ARC issued laptop and then glanced up at the clock again.

An anomaly alert had come through today in the mid-afternoon. The honking cacophony of the alarm had drawn everyone to the central atrium, where Connor's quick and clever fingers narrowed down the location to an old estate in Hertfordshire. It wasn't terribly far, and the speed with which the team got themselves ready impressed her.

Right up until Cutter turned to her and ordered, "You stay here."

In shock, Sarah had watched as Cutter, Stephen, Abby, Connor – with a sheepish wave –, and Becker all hurried out of the atrium to the motor pool and off, leaving her behind with nothing more to do than continue her rough outlining of mythological sources.

She hadn't realized until that moment that she wasn't on the field team. For the last few days she'd been working in the ARC, giving Cutter information that allowed him to generate 'coordinates' for anomalies. He, Sarah, Stephen, and sometimes Connor, had built an elaborate model of the anomaly system. She and Connor made sure that all the data was loaded into the computer modeling program, but Cutter liked to work with his hands. He liked a tangible map. No-one argued with the mercurial Team Leader about his methods, but like good scientists, the rest of the team made sure all knowledge was backed up in secondary systems.

She'd also enjoyed one evening of drinks out with Cutter, Stephen, Connor and Abby. Why Captain Becker hadn't joined in, she wasn't sure. She sensed a slight tension between the military man and Cutter, probably because Cutter was a "loose cannon" personified, and Becker had a professionally fine-tuned sense of caution.

The sudden plunge from valuable new team-member to suzy-stay-at-home stung.

Sarah poked at her keyboard. They'd gotten Egypt covered very quickly, easily dismissing the obvious figures, like Sobek and Sekhmet and Bast. They'd had a bit of a tussle over Anubis, but either interpretation – hound or jackal – was appropriate to the time period, and not some anachronistic creature. Had Sarah not seen an anomaly in the Sun Cage produce a prehistoric monster so exactly like Egyptian representations of Ammut, she might have dismissed the idea, laying the inspiration for Ammut at the feet of the Nile crocodile as others in her field did.

They'd then come to the conclusion that any mythology surrounding easily identifiable creatures was dismissible. They needed truly fantastic creatures: dragons, unicorns, chimeras. Connor had offered to help Sarah cross-reference the standard characteristics of these beasts to the known fossil record, but Cutter insisted Connor's time be spent on magnetite and electricity. Sarah wondered why they didn't find a physicist to handle this, and let Connor get back to his paleontology, but then she imagined it would be hard to bring in someone new without the kind of experience she had endured. And it seemed the brilliant young man could handle it. Cutter seemed to have quiet but complete faith in Connor's abilities.

Sarah glanced up at the clock again. Now it was nearing eight in the evening. She wasn't alone in her vigil; she had heard Lester loudly ranting about the inability of freelance scientists to keep one reasonably informed about forty-five minutes ago. No doubt the prim and proper administrator was pacing in his office even now. He was probably more worried than she about the team.

Allowing her mind to drift again, Sarah found herself contemplating Stephen Hart. The zoologist had flirted with her over drinks when the team had gone out. Sure, he had all the right lines and all the good looks, but Sarah couldn't help but be a little wary of a man who was so glib with the fairer sex. When he turned his attention on Abby, his comments were more teasing, brotherly, and the young behaviorist gave as good as she got, even though she'd sat slightly closer to Connor than appropriate. It had been something of a clue for the others – when Abby had gone to fetch a round, and Connor stared after her, Cutter and Stephen had exchanged knowing looks and small smiles. Sarah found their affection for their younger colleagues reassuring, but she still struggled somewhat with her place in the dynamic. She could, no doubt, let herself fall for Hart's blandishments, and it might make for a fun diversion, but she wondered if the man was ever serious about women.

At the other end of the spectrum, Captain Becker was quietly making himself indispensable to the Egyptologist. Whether it was an offer of a ride home, or simply holding doors for her, his ultra-correct gentlemanly ways charmed Sarah more than he might realize. And if in her head, she found herself labeling him 'Brandon' instead of Becker… well, she was an Austen fan from way back, and he _was_ a career military man, after all….

The sudden noise of slamming doors and raised voices shook her out of her reverie, and Sarah hurried down to the main floor. The team had returned.

"What happened?" she asked Connor breathlessly.

"Coryphodons in the carp pond," Connor told her, as if she'd know what that meant. At her expression of confusion he continued. "Like a hippo, not as big, just as cranky."

"Oh dear," Sarah muttered. She'd seen the damage an annoyed hippo could do in Upper Egypt once. "Anyone hurt?"

"Stephen got bowled over, maybe a cracked rib. Becker got a tongue-lashing from Abby for using live rounds to scare them back through the anomaly." Connor's sly smile suggested the full story might be entertaining.

Sarah ignored the temptation of his tale to head for the clinic instead. There, a military medic was taping Stephen's ribs.

"You should probably have an x-ray," the soldier told the shirtless zoologist, who grunted as his ribs were stabilized.

"I'll go tomorrow. Right now, I just want a draught and a break."

From the opposite side, Cutter let out an amused snort. "Perhaps waving the lilac about to entice them wasn't so smart. Clearly, they found it too appealing."

Stephen rolled his eyes before noticing Sarah in the doorway. He gave her a tight smile.

"Are you alright?" Sarah couldn't help asking. From what she could see, he'd be sporting fairly substantial bruises up and down his body for days.

"Concerned for me, Doctor Page?" Stephen asked cheerfully, a note of amusement in his voice.

"Only if it knocked out what little sense you may have," Sarah replied pertly. Cutter snickered.

"Where's Abby?" Cutter asked, changing the subject.

"Either still yelling at Becker in the armory," Connor told him from behind Sarah, "Or showering off the muck."

"Muck?" Sarah asked.

"She dodged the wrong way. Ended up in the pond," Stephen explained.

"At least for once, none of this was my fault," Connor muttered. Sarah turned to give him a grin.

"Then you should be properly sympathetic," she informed him. Her grin and a quirk of the eye conveyed her suggestion clearly enough, and with a smile, Connor went to find his girlfriend.

"I appreciate you hanging around to make sure we're all in one piece, Doctor Page," Cutter said, "But thankfully we're all done for the day." He glanced at Stephen, who was attempting to pull on his vest without groaning. "If we're lucky, we can get out of writing the reports tonight." He patted Stephen gently on the shoulder, then left the clinic.

Once disentangled from the cotton, Stephen smiled at Sarah, a more genuine one than his earlier flirtatious smirk. "It's alright, really," he told her. "I'm fine, and all the creatures got back to their own time."

"I can see that," Sarah said, then moderated her sharp tone guiltily. "It's just, I thought…"

"You thought you'd be off adventuring with us?" Stephen asked. When she nodded sheepishly, he smiled. "Really, be glad you're not. If we run into a situation when we need you, believe me, Cutter will call you in. Let yourself ease into this. It's a crazy job, and you're the first one who hasn't had to dive into the deep end all at once." His tone was reassuring and kind, and Sarah found herself smiling at him, pleasantly surprised to see the nice guy hiding behind the hot-shot persona.

"Are you going to need a hand with anything?" She offered, waving a bit to indicate his injuries.

A sly spark flashed in his eyes, but he just smiled. "Nah, I'll be fine. Thanks for the offer, though."

* * *

A showered and chagrinned looking Abby waved goodnight to Sarah as she and Connor headed out. For once apparently, Connor came out of an adventure unscathed and unembarrassed. He looked pretty happy about it.

Cutter was manfully taking whatever tongue-lashing Lester was bestowing up in the administrator's office. He gave her a subtle nod as she passed through the atrium.

Just by the security checkpoint, Sarah quite literally ran into Captain Becker.

"Doctor Page," he greeted her politely, a hand on her elbow to steady her. He frowned slightly. "May I give you a ride home? It's late to be riding the Underground alone."

Given that it was barely past nine o'clock, the reasoning was specious, but Sarah accepted anyway.

Once in the Hilux, the silence was nearly deafening. Becker kept strict attention to the road. Sarah thought about trying to start a conversation, but gave it up as a bad idea.

Outside her flat, Becker pulled the car over neatly. Before she could even sort out her purse and bag, he'd sprung from his seat and come around the car to open the door for her.

"Thanks," she said with a smile. The light was dim, but she fancied a bit of color came to his cheeks.

"Dr. Page," he started, then stopped abruptly.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering… that is, if you weren't… I… nevermind."

"What is it, Becker?"

He swallowed hard. "I'm sorry, it was inappropriate."

"Inappropriate?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Sarah laughed. "Oh for god's sake please don't 'ma'am' me! We're colleagues!" She thought a moment as she fished her keys out of her purse. "Is what you were thinking inappropriate because we're colleagues?"

"Um. Yes. Rather."

"Oh." Sarah felt heat in her cheeks now. "Well, let me ask you this – is it inappropriate in general, or inappropriate because of the work we do?" Now she could clearly see she had him. "Is it …. Cutter-level inappropriate, or, maybe, Connor-and-Abby-level inappropriate?" The younger team members' relationship was something of an open secret by now. They'd never declared anything public, nor had they been caught doing anything best kept for non-work-hours, but still everyone knew they were a couple.

When Becker didn't answer, Sarah smirked. "Ah. Connor-and-Abby-level, I see. Well, first of all, you'd better stop calling me Doctor Page. My name is Sarah. And secondly…" She stepped closer and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. "When you do manage to ask me, the answer is yes."

She swiftly unlocked her door and went inside, leaving the terminally flustered Captain alone on the pavement.

* * *

END

_To be continued in the next tale, "Dodging Danny"_


End file.
